1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to electro-optical devices and electronic apparatuses including such electro-optical devices. In particular, the present invention relates to a semi-transmissive reflective electro-optical device including a substrate provided with a reflective plate on the inner surface of the substrate.
2. Description of Related Art
An active matrix display device is known as an electro-optical device, such as a liquid crystal display device, that includes an electro-optical material, such as liquid crystal, disposed between a pair of substrates. In such an active matrix display device, a matrix of pixel electrodes is formed on one of the substrates and is energized through thin film transistor (TFT) elements for switching the display. In such a display device using TFT elements, when light is incident on a channel region of a TFT element, light leakage is caused. This leads to a display having defects, for example, low contrast and flicker. Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-298290, for example, discloses a technique that prevents light from entering the channel regions of the TFT elements by forming, for example, light-shielding films on the light incident surfaces of the TFT elements.
Another known active matrix display device is a semi-transmissive reflective display device in which a reflective plate having openings is formed on an element substrate having TFT elements thereon. The reflective plate reflects light incident on an opposing substrate to allow reflective display. The semi-transmissive reflective display device also allows transmissive display by transmitting through the openings light emitted from a light source disposed adjacent to the outer surface of the element substrate. Since the incident light on the channel regions of the TFT elements generates light leakage that deteriorates the display quality, the semi-transmissive reflective display device is also provided with a light-shielding film adjacent to the light incident surfaces of the TFT elements.
In the above-mentioned technique, having the light-shielding film on the element substrate for preventing the light leakage in the TFT elements, the light-shielding film shields the TFT elements from light. To efficiently utilize this light-shielding film to the fullest extent, it is desirable for the film to have other functions. As disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 09-127497, when the light-shielding film is formed only in the TFT regions, the surface of the element substrate between the TFT regions and non-TFT regions becomes irregular. The distance between the two substrates thus becomes uneven over these regions and leads to uneven retardation values. The structure in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-298290, in which a light-shielding film is provided on the top surface of the TFT element substrate adjacent to the liquid crystal, is not applicable to a semi-transmissive reflective display panel. The structure in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 07-128658, in which a light-shielding film is provided on a source line, is also not applicable to the semi-transmissive reflective display panel.